Boeing B-29 Superfortress - El único avión que lanzó armas nucleares en combate de la historia.
Video from the channel Mundo de Aviación about Boeing B-29 Superfortress, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:20. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
An educational piece from the Aeropedia channel on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the high-altitude strategic bomber that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It covers its origins, its technology and its record in the Second World War and in Korea.
Historical context
Before the war, the US Army Air Corps concluded that the B-17 would fall short for the Pacific, and Boeing began a pressurized long-range bomber with its own funds. In December 1939 the "super bomber" specification was published and Boeing's design won the contest. The XB-29 flew on 21 September 1942. Production, split among four plants and thousands of subcontractors, suffered many problems, especially with the Wright R-3350 engines.
The first combat mission took off from India on 5 June 1944 against targets in Thailand. On 15 June, aircraft based in China attacked the Yawata steelworks in Japan. The Enola Gay dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Bockscar dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki three days later. In Korea the B-29 operated between 1950 and 1953, and the arrival of the MiG-15 forced it to fly at night.
Key facts
It had pressurized cabins joined by a tunnel, tricycle landing gear and remote-controlled turrets with General Electric analog computers. Its maximum take-off weight was 60 tonnes, its top speed was 574 km/h and it carried 11 crew. 3,970 B-29s and 370 B-50s were built; the last B-29 left the Renton plant on 28 May 1946.